What is an emotional disorder? A transdiagnostic mechanistic definition with implications for assessment, treatment, and prevention

Jacqueline R. Bullis, Hannah Boettcher, Shannon Sauer-Zavala, Todd J. Farchione, David H. Barlow

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

178 Scopus citations

Abstract

We present a transdiagnostic definition of the commonly used, but poorly defined, term emotional disorder. This definition transcends and possibly complements traditional descriptive diagnostic categories, and candidate dimensional models of psychopathology by focusing on putative mechanisms that contribute to the onset and maintenance of disorders characterized primarily by dysfunction in the interpretation and regulation of emotion. We review three intermediate transdiagnostic mechanisms that characterize emotional disorders, such as, but not limited to, anxiety and depressive disorders, and then illustrate how this proposed definition applies to additional diagnoses beyond anxiety and depression. Implications of this new conceptualization of disorders of emotion are then discussed in the context of assessment, treatment, and prevention.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere12278
JournalClinical Psychology: Science and Practice
Volume26
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2019

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 American Psychological Association. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc., on behalf of the American Psychological Association.

Keywords

  • classification
  • comorbidity
  • emotional disorders
  • transdiagnostic

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Clinical Psychology

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